Rev. A. Linford, before his decease, was
recognized as a good, great and interesting Bible teacher in the Assemblies of
God Fellowship for many years. He was a well-loved Bible College
lecturer and writer that bequeathed a tremendous amount of Biblical material in
his generation. What a legacy he has left to be researched and brought forth to
refresh our day! We shall be using such on this site: His writings from the
book of Proverbs and also his Editorials that he wrote for the Redemption
Tidings when he was its editor. I trust you will enjoy and appreciate.

To achieve the best in life
requires AIM – we must know where we are going; ACTIVITY we must strive to get
there’, and STAMINA – we must not give up until we attain our goal. And if that
goal is God, the end will be eternal blessedness.

PURSUIT OF HOLINESS – vs 21. The definition of holiness is ”righteousness and mercy” – that is
integrity towards God and compassion toward men. To live in conformity to God’s
law is to live straight and true. There is nothing bent about a God-fearer. To
exhibit brotherly love to all men is to live sweet and pure. Mercy is a godly
trait that oils the wheels of society, secures the bonds of fellowship and adds
reality to religion. As James stated: ”Pure religion and undefiled before God
and the Father is this. To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction,
and to keep himself unspotted from the world” – 1:27. To such come life,
existence with quality; righteousness, equated here with prosperity, the smile
of God; and honour, the essence of dignity, of recognised worth and of high
esteem of men.

CONQUEST OF WICKEDNESS – v22. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, for arms continue conflict
whereas good sense prevents it. ”The city of the mighty is scaled” in more
senses than one. First, moral and spiritual force is greater than mere physical
force. Munitions may batter our foes into submission but wise diplomacy can
turn them into friends. On the mental plane, sound argument and solid logic may
subdue our opponent, but tolerance and appreciation can win his confidence and
support. Many verbal contents are waged merely to save face; give a man his
due, and he will listen and concede. But who can win the battle of the mind? It
takes a man wise in God and mighty in the Scriptures to scale the walls of
prejudice and reduce the citadel of false doctrine. But ”the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of
strongholds” – 2 Corinthians 10:4. Truth must prevail over error.

This is a simple outline
for you to think about and meditate on. The introduction, main thoughts and
conclusion need further material to be added. It is an outline for you toexpand, develop more fully and fill in to spiritual profit and inspiration.

GREAT REFORMS

2 Chronicles 10-16

Asa turned out to be quite a good
king but unfortunately missed it in the final years of his reign. It is good to
note the commendable changes of a divine order that effected a healthy
relationship with the Lord and benefited God’s people. The Lord had graciously
assisted him and his army when in great conflict and under great pressure – 2
Chronicles 14:9. A million men with 300 chariots assailed and the Lord worked a
major deliverance as they cried out in prayer – v10. He was met by a prophet
who gave him an inspired word of prophecy and he responded in a magnificent
way. – 2 Chronicles 15:8. It issued in great reforms.

1/. HE DEALT WITH THE ISSUE OF IDOLATRY- v8

The removal of this offensive
system and practice was the start of a genuine move towards the Lord and
changed the spiritual faith and conduct of a nation’s procedure and life. It
was a major work of sanctification and a restoration of the true worship of the
Lord.

2/. HE REPAIRED THE ALTAR OF THE LORD –v8

Somehow it had fallen into an
abject state of disrepair and misuse and there was a need to restore it to a
place where true and regular sacrifices to the Lord were exercised. This meant
a renewed relationship with the Lord and being brought back into His grace and
blessing.

3/. HE BROUGHT THE PEOPLE INTO SACRED COVENANT
-vv12-15

What a delight to Jehovah to
discover that here was a king and people prepared to not only seek Him but to
make positive agreement with Him in abiding faith and obedience. People from
the northern state came when they witnessed the evident hand of God and saw
what was happening – v9.

4/. HE REMOVED A BAD INFLUENCE FROM POSITION – v16

He removed his grandmother from
her situation because of her conduct and he dealt with the obvious obscene
idol.

(5) HE REMAINED COMMITTED TO LATER LIFE –v17

For a very long time he remained
true to the Lord and reaped the advantage gained. Peace prevailed and things
went well. All had god reason to be pleased.

CONCLUSION

When the opportunity comes to make
fundamental changes for good they must be grasped. Who knows the full extent of
favour to be known as a result!

Ian and Judith Green are based in Bedworth, England, where they live with theirtwo beautiful children, Sophie and Morgan.

Ian Green is a visionary leader and founder ofNext
Level International and The
Proton Foundation. He is also a sought after conference speaker whotravels internationally on a regular basis. He provides expert assistance toboard level for rapid growth in companies and churches. An accomplishedcorporate strategist Ian has also increased in various business sectors. He isactively fulfilling his vision to see positive cultures created in cities andcommunities around the globe.

Judith Green has been following Jesus for over30 years and has held various leadership roles within the local church. She iscurrently Area Pastor over 4 ladies cell groups, and is involved in teachingand mentoring younger couples. Judith has assisted Ian in the development ofNext Level International and more recently the Proton Foundation and has alsobeen a guest speaker overseas, in the USA,Canada, Czech Republic andRomania.

Ian has spent more than two decades of hislife finding and creating innovative paths for the people of Europe to receive love, hope and a future throughJesus Christ. His relentless passion has seen over 130 churches planted and7000 leaders systematically trained.

Additionally thousands have been involved on ashort term basis in cities and towns across Europeresulting in movements of young and emerging leaders coming to take their placein the advancement of the cause of Jesus.

Ian is a sought after conference speaker whotravels internationally on a regular basis. Ian’s pioneer gifting enables himto impart faith and vision from God’s Word in a vibrant and inspiring mannerand he is actively fulfilling his vision to see positive cultures created incities and communities around the globe.

WHAT
PEOPLE SAY:

“Having known Ian and the work that he iscalled to for many years, I am delighted to write these few words of supportand recommendation. His passion and vision for reaching the lost, encouragingthe believers, discipling those who desire to be trained, and seeking to seenations effected by the preaching of the gospel, is an example to us all.”John

Partington, National Leader of Assemblies ofGod inGreat Britain.

“For over twenty years leaders such as myselfwithin the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada have had the privilege ofpartnership with Ian Green in areas such as church planting, leadershipdevelopment and short term missions. In all of our endeavours together we havefound Ian to be a strategic Kingdom builder marked by integrity, passion, faithand prophetic insight. I am happy that our friendship and partnership in Jesusmission continues to thrive.” David Wells, National Leader of Pentecostal
Assemblies of Canada

“Ian Green is one of those rare individuals who has proven over time, thatit is possible for a person possessing immense vision and faith to achieve notonly great accomplishments but also to achieve a personal testimony ofsignificance, integrity and genuine Christlikeness.” Martin Steel, SeniorPastor, Harbourside Church,Auckland,New Zealand”

Ian is an Opener of Doors. He’s opened doorsto nations, doors of personal destinies and doors of financial provision. Twodecades ago he opened a door for my wife and I into Britainthat has proved to be a ‘wide and effective door’. It’s a gift given toPioneers and Apostles of Faith. It’s their wayof serving the Kingdom and Ianand Judith do it amazingly well.” Dave Gilpin, Author andSenior Pastor, Hope City Church,Sheffield, United Kingdom.

“Ian Green is a change agent. Whether it’s the personal change broughtabout by his example, the culture change which is a result of missionalbusiness enterprise or the faith change that comes as he ministers the Word,people are never the same after Ian has entered their world. He brings Godlytransformation wherever he goes.” Bill Howell, Executive Director

In my life as a Pastor, I am around 95% confident that God
will do what He said He’d do. I’m not leaving 5% for doubt but for the
gazumpings of God. It appears that even though we like to think that things
happened because we believed for them to happen, much of the direction of our
lives is caused by default rather than design.

Reinhard
Bonnke never designed his rise to become a huge African evangelist. It came
about through default as the advertised healing evangelist for a small crusade
failed to attend, forcing Reinhard to step into his shoes. Through the powerful
results of that crusade, Reinhard was catapulted to a new sphere of operation.

I once overheard my Assistant Director’s reply as she was asked how she got the
job. Much to my horror at the time, she told them that it was by default. She
claimed that I had asked three other people before asking her. And that was the
truth! Proverbs 16:9 explains both the process of my selection and the process
of her eventual selection – “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord
determines his steps”.

It appears that the realm our daily faith operates in is usually the
penultimate realm of destiny. We believe as much as we can in the removal of
mountains, the healing of bodies, the provision of finance and the removal of
temptation. We believe that we will see our answers to our prayers and faith
declarations. Our ultimate destiny appears to be a mix of our believing in His
promise and the overriding providential hand of God.

Destiny is a complicated thing. Judas proved it! In sovereignty, he was the one
who would deceive Jesus and fulfil prophecy. He was a marked man. In the daily
grind of destiny, Jesus prayed for him and believed the best for his life, just
like we do for everyone in our daily sphere of influence. Judas had the freedom
of choice to not do what he did. Sovereignty looked back upon Judas’ life and
saw what he would freely choose.

THE
RECALCULATION OF DESTINY

For
the simple purpose of looking at the workings of destiny, I want to leave
sovereignty to one side for a minute! It would seem that in a world where God
respects people’s ability and power to make their own choice, it appears to me
that God is having to recalculate the details of destiny almost very nano
second! This would be no more necessary than when someone fails to be faithful
with the ‘talent’ they’ve been given. In Matthew 25, the master is seen taking
away the ‘talent’ from the unfaithful servant and giving it to the most
fruitful servant. The talent count began as 5, 2, 1. It then moved to 10, 4, 1
and finally became 11, 4, 0. It could have become 26, 0, 0 if the second man
failed to exercise any more than the tally of gifts he’d been given. This shows
that you may be happily perusing a defined destiny in God with the talents
you’ve been given only to find that you’ve been gazumped. You have now been
given what actually belonged to someone else’s destiny (again putting
sovereignty aside). You are now even busier than you have ever been.

IT
JUST SO HAPPENED!

The most understated verse
in the entire Bible is found in Ruth 2:3 which says, ‘… as it turned out, she
found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz …’. It just so happened!
This was a collision of destiny that could only ever come about through the
losing of one’s life to gain it.

Ruth lost her identity to Naomi when she made Naomi’s God her God and Naomi’s
people her people. She also made Naomi’s condition of poverty, her condition.
She did her best, however, to relieve it. It just so happened that she was
gleaning from her potential kinsman redeemer’s field, and it just so happened
that she eventually became the Great Grandmother of the great King David! Out
of the ashes of sacrifice comes the phoenix of destiny. Not everyone chooses,
however, to walk in the ways of Ruth. The prize could possibly have been open
to her sister-in-law Orpah, but she failed to rise up and remained in Moab. Canaan could have been the inheritance of Terah
but he stopped for good in Haran. It
was Abraham, his son, that got it, but only through intense obedience and
believing.

In the realm of destiny, we like to think that we’re pretty much in control. It
is that ‘control’ freakery that God loves to disturb. Just as Jesus urged
prideful people not to ‘boast about tomorrow’, God’s ability to cut in on us at
anytime He likes is like a shot across the bow of our ship of vision making,
goal projecting and wise planning. God gazumps. Always has done. Always will.

Some fellows were stationed in Koreaduring the Korean War. While there, they hired
a local boy to cook and clean for them. Being a bunch of jokesters, these guys
soon took advantage of the boy’s seeming naiveté. They’d smear vaseline on the
stove handles so that when he’d turn the stove on in the morning he’d get
grease all over his fingers. They’d put little water buckets over the door so
that he’d get deluged when he opened the door. They’d even nail his shoes to
the floor during the night. Day after day the little fella took the brunt of their
practical jokes without saying anything. No blame, no self-pity, no temper
tantrums.

Finally the men felt guilty about
what they were doing so they sat down with the young Korean and said, “Look, we
know these pranks aren’t funny anymore, and we’re sorry. We’re never going take
advantage of you against It seemed too good to be true to the houseboy. “No
more sticky on the stove?” he asked.

When Dawson Trotman passed away he probably left a legacy
of discipleship on this earth that will never be matched except perhaps in the
life of Jesus Christ Himself. I’ve become a real student of Dawson Trotman and
believe wholeheartedly in the methods of discipleship that he taught and
emulated throughout his days. He died in Schroon
Lake, New York.

He died of all things in the midst of an area that he was expert in-he drowned.
He was an expert swimmer. The last few moments he had in the water he lifted
one girl out of the water. He went down and got the other girl and lifted her
out of the water and then submerged and was not found again until the dragnet
found him a few hours later. A man named Larsen was on that boat when Trotman
died, and he said, “The entire United States Navy couldn’t have saved Trotman
that day-it was God’s time”. Time ran an article on Trotman’s life the next
week, and they put a caption beneath his name, and it read, “Always Holding
Somebody Up”. In one sentence, that was Trotman’s life-investment in people, in
honesty and humility, holding them up. Are you doing that? Who are you holding
up?

In the early days of the automobile, a man who wasdriving a Model T Ford had engine trouble. He couldn’t get his car started. Achauffeured Limousine pulled up & a man got out of the back to offer hisassistance. After tinkering under the hood for a few moments, the stranger said`Now try it’. Immediately the engine leaped to life. The man then identifiedhimself as Henry Ford. He said `I designed & built these cars, so I knowwhat to do when something goes wrong with them’. In the same way God created us& understands us.

“The more I study nature the more I am amazed at thecreator” – Louis Pasteur

Consider these facts about creation: –

* The distance of the earth from the sun, approx. 93Mmiles, is just right to sustain life;

* The 23½° tiltof the earth on its axis ensures seasonal changes, without which much of theearth would be desert;

* The balance of oxygen (21%) & nitrogen (78%) inthe air we breathe is perfect for supporting life;

* Scientific measurements indicate that we are movingeven when we are standing still. Continental landmasses sit on enormous slabsof rock that slide very slowly at the rate of 1 to 8 inches per year.America is gradually moving westwards away fromEurope at the rate of 3 inches per year.

* The Milky Way galaxy is hurtling through space at 375miles per second or 1.3 million miles per hour. Within our own galaxy the sun & its solar system is zooming along at12.4 miles per second (43,000 mph) in the direction of the star Vega in theconstellation Lyra.

There was once a Christian pilgrim who was on a journeyto the Promised Land. Before the journey began, his master asked him to carry across all the way. The Christian said he would be glad to, if that is what hismaster required. The Christian set out on his pilgrimage carrying the cross aspromised. After a while the Christian pilgrim started to weary of carrying thiscross on such a long & arduous journey. Just when he started to despair& think of giving up, he caught sight of a woodcutter chopping down treesin a forest. He called out to the woodcutter & asked him to cut off thebottom of the cross & lighten his load. The woodcutter willingly swung hisaxe & shortened the central wooden length of the cross. The Christianpilgrim immediately felt the difference in the weight of the cross & wasable to make much faster progress on his journey to the Promised Land. When thepilgrim arrived at the boundary of the Promised Land, he found the way aheadblocked by a deep gorge. The pilgrim decided that he would bridge the chasm bylowering the cross into the gap. As he attempted to span the gorge with thecross he had carried on his journey, he sadly realised it was too short by theamount that he had cut off. At that moment the Christian woke up from hisdream. He set out once more on his journey to the Promised Land withthe full weight of hiscross but somehow the burden seemed lighter.

How are we to respond to others who hold values different from our own?
That’s the issue of Romans 14,

Paul speaks in this passage not of
eternal issues or absolute truths, but about gray area’s- subjects that are questionable
and maybe even fuzzy. Christians can differ on these issues and still be part
of the same organisation, on these issues, no scripture declares an unequivocal
right or wrong, Note Paul’s counsel for situations like this:

Coralita Martin, the first black teacher
in many London and Norfolk schools, has influenced thousands of youngsters for
50 year s while facing poverty, abuse and prejudice along the way” – Sandie
Shirley reports

She has fought injustice, silenced misery
and outlasted fear during eviction, rape, near-death, a violent marriage and
forced departure to London’s East
End where she faced racism and hardship.

But healing has come for Coralita while leaning on her Saviour,
Jesus, for the grace to forgive and let go the past. It has included
forgiveness for the man she was pressured to marry, who tore at her soul for 25
years and tried to kill her twice.

“Faith, hope and love have been important
has been love for others”, says Coralita, who was rejected by her mother in Antigua
when she was just ten days old.

Coralita lived with her godmother in a
tiny two bed-roomed house with a tin roof by the beach in Antigua.
“There was no kitchen, bathroom, or electricity and we cooked and washed
outside using a standpipe” says Coralita, 77.

“I loved my godmother. There was no one to
match her tenderness And love and she instilled a solid foundation in God. Whether
it was knocked this way or that, it could not be rocked; rather it would grow
like a strong oak tree during the harsh years of suffering that followed”.

When she was six, her mother insisted she
returned to the family home where she wore the family hand-me-downs and did not
own a pair of shoes until she was a
teenager. There were no regular meals and she slept on the floor.

She
fought rejection and outwitted poverty when she sold empty bottles for a few
pennies and helped her with her mother’s fruit and vegetable business before
school.

As a schoolgirl she changed history: she
became the first youngster from Antigua’s
slums to be offered a place in the foremost high school for girls after sitting
the entrance exam. But with no financial
backing for a school uniform and books, her place went to someone else.

The
future looked bleak until a few years later, when she was awarded an unexpected
scholarship from a rich shipping tycoon who wanted to help a poor child.

Coralita entered into a new learning
phase. She excelled her studies, survived a hurricane and worked at the
Christian mission while having a heart fired with faith after attending a Billy Graham Crusade.

Home tutoring students became a launch pad
for her dream to teach; at 21 she began a lifelong vocation that started
without any formal teaching qualifications.

“Provision was unexpected and divinely
imparted”, says Coralita. “Sometimes there were anonymous finances and huge
bags of potatoes left on my doorstep when l wondered how I would feed my
children.

“My family and friends have wondered how I
have managed, but God has always made a way where there was no way – his light
has shone through the darkest night”.

Teaching spanned the generations and
cultures – from a private school in the Caribbean (where she knew the now
famous singer Joan Armatrading) to tough inner London schools, exclusive fee-paying
ones, and a variety in Norfolk, until she was
70 years old.

She taught future doctors, lawyers,
entrepreneurs and dined with rich, influential parents and cried tears for the
youngsters downtrodden by abuse, fear and poverty as they struck a strong chord
of empathy.

“I wanted to be a teacher since I was a
little girl. If you want something badly enough you have to keep persevering
although it may be a struggle” says Coralita, who studied long and hard to
qualify as a teacher in England.

“Seeing the happiness on children’s faces
made it all worthwhile. Looking back, I see my life as a rose bush among
thorns. The thorns are the pain but the roses are like the joy that has bloomed
in the sunshine of God’s gain”.

Courage to Dream – the impossible becomes reality by Coralita Martin
with Sandie Shirley is published by Last Word Publications, ISBN 9780955943942,
price £7.99 from http://www.lastwordpublications.com